I have been reading lately about many cases of people, who are the victims of conmen on the internet auction website Ebay. I myself had a negative experience a number of years ago when a man tried to steal 170 from me. I was one of the lucky ones as I managed to get the money back.

I had been having lots of fun buying and selling on Ebay for a number of months, without any problems at all. I regularly sold second hand mobile phones and was making a fair amount of money for very little effort. If I ever bought anything that cost over 100, I would always meet the seller somewhere, normally just off the motorway. I managed to purchase what I felt were some real bargains and also sold off many items which I no longer needed or wanted.

This fun and easy way of earning cash was soon to come to an end. Maybe I am a bit of a fool, but it came as quite a shock when it happened.

On one particular day, I was scouring ebay, looking to purchase another second hand mobile phone, which I would then re-sell, hopefully for a profit. I eventually found an advert for a buy it now phone, with the asking price low but not extremely low. It was available for only 170, I believed I could quite easily make a profit of at least 50 at this price.

On the advert there was a mobile number, which I could phone if I had any questions. I duly did this and a man calling himself Tony answered. I asked him the general type questions, which he was happy to answer. He sounded and seemed really nice, however stated that he was unable to meet me as he was unable to drive, as he had yet to pass his driving test. The alarm bells should have started ringing, but for whatever reason, they didn't.

As his house was a long way from where I lived, I reluctantly agreed to pay via a bank transfer. He assured me he would post the phone that very day via Royal Mail Special Delivery to arrive by noon the next day. He seemed very genuine, they always do your thinking and that was that.

As you will no doubt have guessed, no phone arrived the next day or in fact any day.

I tried contacting Tony via e-mail, text and by phoning his mobile phone, there was no reply.

I realised what a fool I had been, however decided to go to the police. They were very helpful and about half an hour later I had a crime number, however was warned that it was very unlikely I would ever see a phone or receive a refund of my money. The police advised me to be very careful as they regularly have complaints from people who have been defrauded on ebay, I was not alone!

Outside the police station I sent Tony a text with the police crime number. To my shock he phoned me straight away swearing at me but eventually agreed to refund me the money, if I stopped the police action against him.

I was very lucky, I am sure many other people as the police stated, never get their money back.